Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Recommend Classic Films for the consumption and enjoyment of all! Nothing newer then 1970.

Roma, città aperta (Rome, open city): A neorealist classic about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the Italian resistance this movie is shocking on many levels and for many reasons. It's incredibly raw and a capstone of the neorealism movement.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Bring a strong gag reflex. I'm recommending this specifically because it was Old Hollywood's weapon against the Neorealism movement and makes for a fascinating contrast with Rome: Open City or any other neorealist film. Marilyn Monroe actually managed to make me stop being attracted to her with this film. Technicolor, the big new tech at the time is basically used as a bludgeon, however the film has it's self aware moments, and even parodies itself at one point.

Casablanca: Yes it's a classic, yes if you have a pulse you should have seen it already. Watch it again. You can never get enough Bogart. Play it again Sam. It'll also cleanse your palette and soothe your mind after "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"

Citizen Kain. Then, sit there and wonder what could have compelled you to watch such a dreadfully boring film.

Casablanca is good though

My vote personally goes to Rebel Without a Cause. That's a movie worth watching. The best and final role of actor James Dean.

Also gonna give a shout to Strangers on a Train. A wonderfully creepy and suspenseful movie.

Never liked many classics. Singing in the Rain, maybe.
Gimme Big Trouble in Little China any day of the week.

Slueth. Great 2 person film with Michael Cain in the 70's. Amazoning interaction between the characters.

 LordofHats wrote:
Citizen Kain. Then, sit there and wonder what could have compelled you to watch such a dreadfully boring film.

Film Class. I then realized, If i wanted to become a critic, I would have sit through stuff like this, and defend it.
But really good ones.
THX 1138: Oh god, Why did Lucas make Star Wars? I want to see him make more of this. This is how you do pretentious, and make it good.
Rear Window: A film with only 1 set the entire time, and maybe 5-6 characters with speaking roles.
It happened one night: How is it possible for a single man in his teens enjoy a romantic comedy? Her is how, make it FUNNY!!!!!(I also saw this on laserdisk)
Vertigo: Not Hitchcock best film, but it sure does a good job trying. I will never forget how the scene gradually drained of color while at the characters darkest moment. I never even noticed it until after the film.
Pillow Talk: Yeah, it got a chuckle out of me.

If you like Casablanca, you'll love To Have And Have Not.
For film noir, I recommend Out of the Past.
Sergeant York is great too.

No name on the bullet (1959)

Django (1960-ish)

Paths of Glory

The Man with no name trilogy (Fistful of dollars, For a few dollars more, The good the bad and the ugly)

Spell bound

Rope

Harvey

Mr Smith goes to Washington

Masque of the Red Death

Pit and the Pendulum

Death Race 2000

The Day the Earth Stood Still (the good one, not the gakky new one)

I haven't seen many pre-seventies films, mostly war movies and the occasional western. So by default I'll list:

Zulu
Waterloo (fantastic battle scenes enacted by literally thousands of Soviet soldiers).
Sink The Bismarck

Kelly's Heroes and Dirty Dozen are some cool classic war films.

On the Waterfront is a pretty good Brando film that I had to watch for a class in high school.

If you want to go down the WAY DOWN trail, check out the 1919-1920 version of Metropolis, different versions are different because of the way they were soundtracked back then, but the version that I saw had an absolutely brilliant sound to go with.

For classics, you need to go Kurosawa.
The inspiration for many classics, many of his films have been remade into western films (the culture, not the genre).

Hidden Fortress (Star Wars)
Yojimbo (Fist full of Dollars)
Seven Samurai (Magnificent Seven)

Also worth a watch,
The Mission.

You guys keep listing some of my favorites.

The Mission was excellent, and I'll recommend pretty much everything else listed.

I'm a big fan of classic movies, so I really like this thread ( thanks, KM.)

Lawrence of Arabia is excellent.

Any of the old charlie chan mystery movies are awesome.

Zulu.

This discussion is over, no more needs to be said!

From the 70s at least...Scavenger Hunt. I would have added classic Clash of the Titans, but that was 80s. I don't watch very old movies, so I'm workin wit' what I got!

I used to enjoy Jason and the Argonauts (1963) when I was young; those stop-motion skellies were awesome!

The Battle of Britian. Sheer class.

The Great Escape. Wonderful.

Peter Seller's Pink Panther Series.

Whatever happened to Baby Jane...



Bette Davis is nightmare fuel.



Bad Day at Black Rock

The Grapes of Wrath

The Big Country

The Ladykillers

the Alaistair Sim 'A Christmas Carol'

Zulu

School for Scoundrels

Goodbye Mr Chips

The Third Man

Breakfast at Tiffany's
written by Truman Capote; the movie that made Audrey Hepburn famous and would create the archetype of the manic-pixie-dreamgirl (erroneously, as Holly Golightly is not actually an MPD).

Rashomon
a story about an encounter on the road between a Samurai and a bandit, told from three different perspectives.

Sword of Doom
without question the best non-Kurosawa samurai movie out there.

The Killers (1946)
the very heart of American film noir; though it doesn't get as much press as Casablanca.

Das Boot. I don't really know if I'd consider it a classic, but a good movie nonetheless.

I'll second Battle of Britain and add Frankenstein

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Recommend Classic Films for the consumption and enjoyment of all! Nothing newer then 1970.

Roma, città aperta (Rome, open city): A neorealist classic about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the Italian resistance this movie is shocking on many levels and for many reasons. It's incredibly raw and a capstone of the neorealism movement.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Bring a strong gag reflex. I'm recommending this specifically because it was Old Hollywood's weapon against the Neorealism movement and makes for a fascinating contrast with Rome: Open City or any other neorealist film. Marilyn Monroe actually managed to make me stop being attracted to her with this film. Technicolor, the big new tech at the time is basically used as a bludgeon, however the film has it's self aware moments, and even parodies itself at one point.

Casablanca: Yes it's a classic, yes if you have a pulse you should have seen it already. Watch it again. You can never get enough Bogart. Play it again Sam. It'll also cleanse your palette and soothe your mind after "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"

Monroe was in some surprisingly good flicks during her career. The wife is a big fan of hers. Id add Seven Year Itch to the list of hers as well. It was pretty damn funny.

And most Clint Eastwood flicks as well. Though Id personally take "the Good the Bad and the Ugly" off the list, simply because I think that movie is SO boring. Dunno why so many people like it so much.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Zulu.

This discussion is over, no more needs to be said!

Agreed.

"Because we're here lad, because we're here."

And any hundred of other quotable lines.

Honourable mentions may go to 'The Man who Would Be King' 'The Dirty Dozen' and "When Eagles Dare"

When Eagles Dare is awesome, and speaking of bird motifs the Maltese Falcon is the crown jewel of Noir films

edit wrong post, thats what I get for multiple tabs of dakka

How about "The ladykillers" 1955 comedy with peter sellers and... others I can't remember.

12 Angry men and just about anything by Stanley Kubrick and/or Alfred Hitchcock.

I'll put in for a movie I just watched on youtube called "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp". Unbelievably good show made in 1943 in Britain. Here's the Wiki on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Death_of_Colonel_Blimp

Here's where it can be found on youtube:

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=82WmdT76Cpc&feature=related

Rashomon
a story about an encounter on the road between a Samurai and a bandit, told from three different perspectives.

This is a fun movie. I can't remember, did we find out which of the stories was true at the end or was not knowing the whole point?

 LordofHats wrote:
Citizen Kain. Then, sit there and wonder what could have compelled you to watch such a dreadfully boring film.

Citizen Kane was fantastic, and hardly boring at all. It was actually going to be the first one I was going to recommend.

Also recommend:
-Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
-The Sound of Music
-Seven Samurai